Indian government’s ambitious intelligence gathering project National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) will be up and running much sooner than expected as the government has allowed its databases, the National Population Register (NPR) and Immigration, Visa, Foreigners Registration and Tracking System (IVFRT), to be linked to the project immediately, reports Economic Times. It was decided at a meeting chaired by Home Secretary Anil Goswami on January 6, to undertake a NATGRID 'pilot' immediately using the data sources of NPR and IVFRT. According to earlier reports the project was supposed to go live just ahead of polls, but it looks like the government is in a hurry to get it up and running. The initial stage could involve the “real-time linking” of data between various agencies through the NATGRID platform, according to the publication. The project may link Central databases with crime records available with the police to kickstart operations and later proceed with analysing the data to detect and act against terrorist activities. NATGRID was set up by the government in the aftermath of Mumbai attacks at an estimated cost of Rs 4,000-5,000 crore to enable monitoring of terrorist operations through existing banking, finance and transportation networks. Various ministries and departments, called provider agencies, that hold 21 categories of citizen database like bank account details, telephone records, passport data and vehicle registration details, are supposed to be linked and shared in real-time through the NATGRID with the 11 intelligence and investigative agencies, termed as user agencies. The government could soon issue an…
